Ebony and Ivory
by Team Jem Carstairs
Summary: After fighting with Clary, Jace realizes the two of them are as different as the ebony and ivory of piano keys... But together they make a beautiful melody. After CoA, before CoG. One-shot. *First Place for Angst in 2011 MI Awards by Playing.By.Myself*


**Random little Clace one-shot. Hope you enjoy it. :) Please review!**

**Disclaimer: Cassie Clare owns the characters!**

**Ebony and Ivory**

"Just get out!" she screamed, tossing a hairbrush in my direction. I dodged easily, but just knowing that she had tried to hurt me stung my pride. I took the hint and left, heading where I always did when I fought with Clary: the music room, beside the library, where my piano was. Well, to be fair, it wasn't _my_ piano, but since I was the only one in the Institute who knew how to play, I considered it my personal property.

I sat down at the bench and rested my hands on the keys, my fingers ready to play but my mind elsewhere. Instead of the smooth black wood of the grand piano, I saw a mane of fiery curls and emerald eyes burning with passion. I saw a short slender girl with white skin and a spray of freckles on her face and shoulders. I saw Clary, my sister, who shared my blood and stole my heart. I didn't see a fellow Shadowhunter, and I didn't see someone I could never be with. I just saw Clary, _Clary_, the girl I was completely in love with.

My finger pressed a key, and the sudden noise jarred me from my reverie. It was a high, haunting sound… _C._ I had inadvertently pressed _C, _which, of course, reminded me again of _her._ C for Clary… Something simple, light, beautiful in its own way. It didn't need anything else, but with a just a few other notes it became something even better. Of course, even the most complicated, intricate melody had a basis in C.

I wonder why there are no _J_s on the scale. It stopped at G, but I bet if it didn't, J and C together would make the most beautiful harmony, something sad and lonely, but maybe with a little bit of hope thrown in.

I sighed. This was nothing I could do but think of her, of how it was my own fault she was angry with me. _Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa,_ I thought sadly. My own most grievous fault, perhaps, but it was worth it. We had been talking in her room, just talking, pretending that the only things we felt for one another were brotherly and sisterly sorts of feelings. Well… I was pretending, at least, though that was thrown out the window when I kissed her. This displeased her, for some reason– who _wouldn't_ want to kiss me? Clary, it seemed, because she screeched like a demon and threw things at me.

I hit another note, almost subconsciously. This time it was a sharp, the tone of voice she used every time she talked to me. She was always on edge these days, especially now that Simon was dead. Well, technically dead. He was a vampire, which was close enough to dead. B sharp, B sharp, I kept tapping it over and over, thinking of her cruel words and harsh tone, the hard sheen of glass in her eyes, and all her _sharpness._

My finger moved to a different note. A flat. Flat, how I always sounded when I was with anyone but her. Flat, the timbre of my voice when I spoke to Alec, Izzy or Maryse. Flat, the haphazard way I regarded my own safety. Flat, the emptiness in my soul when I so much as looked at another woman. Flat, my new personality ever since Valentine– my _father_– told me who I was… and who Clary was.

Sharps and flats were so different. Clary had somehow found the passion and fire I lost, making her more like me and me more like her. I don't know what to do. She and I are different as night and day, as hot and cold, as the ebony and ivory of piano keys. And yet opposites attract, or so they say; for if night and day did not meet, where would we get sunsets, the most beautiful time of day, where the sky bleeds red? If hot and cold did not come together, we would never again have that pleasant warmth. And if ebony and ivory did not share a keyboard, we would have none of the sweet melodies I so enjoyed.

So, yes, she was angry. But fire always died down, hot always cooled, sunlight always faded behind the skyline. She would calm down eventually, and I'd give it another go. I'd apologize and maybe, just maybe, she'd forgive me.

Just that thought alone spurred my fingers to begin playing, flying over the keys in a song that I hoped she could hear. A song that said _I'm sorry and yet not sorry. I love you even though I shouldn't. Please don't be angry._

We were different. We were very different, no one could deny it.

And so were ebony and ivory.

Together, we would create a beautiful melody, even if only we could hear it.


End file.
